April 29, 2005

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
April 29, 2005
Two new lawsuits have been filed against the Archdiocese of Dubuque, bringing to 12 the number of cases pending in federal and state courts in Iowa alleging sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Fayette County, John Doe III, a resident of Polk County, alleges he was sexually abused by the Rev. William A. Goltz at Sacred Heart parish in Oelwein beginning in 1954. Goltz also was named in a February lawsuit alleging sexual abuse while he was a priest at the parish.

Jane Doe II, a resident of Dubuque County, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Delaware County alleging she was sexually abused by the Rev. Patrick McElliott in 1964 at St. Patrick parish in Colesburg. This is the third lawsuit filed by women naming McElliott, who died in 1987.

Monsignor James Barta, vicar general of the archdiocese, said Thursday that he could not comment on the lawsuits because he had not yet seen them.

The lawsuits against the archdiocese have named six priests: Goltz, McElliott, Albert Carman, William Roach, William Schwartz and John Schmitz. Archbishop Jerome Hanus has refused to name priests against whom there are founded allegations of abuse.